Secrets of a scientific genius

For a while, Amir Aczel's Fermat's Last Theorem seemed to be everywhere. Proof that no one can predict the next bestseller, this surprisingly popular book involved the decidedly noncommercial topic of mathematics. Aczel has also written about Einstein, gambling, the Kabbalah, the compass, the pendulum all sorts of subjects related to physics and math. His latest effort is Descartes's Secret...

Foucault's scientific triumph

<B>Foucault's scientific triumph</B> Charged with heresy, the 70-year-old Galileo knelt in front of church officials, said the Earth was fixed and immobile and apologized for writing otherwise. Then, as he arose in what might be an apocryphal story he looked to the floor and mumbled, "<I>Eppur si muove</I> (And yet it does move)." Galileo's problem was that...

n the southern coast of Italy lies the little village of Amalfi. Apart from its picturesque setting and the view it offers of the Tyrrhenian Sea, Amalfi's principal claim to fame is symbolized by a tall bronze statue of its most famous son, Flavio Gioia, reverently honored as the inventor of the magnetic compass. But if the sculptor was somewhat noncommittal as to Flavio's facial features, it...